Tri-County Country Club, CLOSED 2016

Detailed description of Tri-County Country Club, CLOSED 2016

Tri-County Country Club is a Private, 9 hole golf course located in Corbin, Kentucky. Guests are not permitted on weekends.%u200B

Tri-County Country Club first opened for play in 1928.

This is a good course for a beginner. Water hazards come into play on four holes.

Blue tees: par-35, 2,889 yards
Red tees: Par-36, 2,497 yards

The signature hole is #8, a 235-yard, par 3.  

The course closed in 2016

The following article was published in https://www.thenewsjournal.net/bank-files-foreclosure-action-against-tri-county-country-club/ 

Bank files foreclosure action against Tri-County Country Club
By Trent Knuckles

The financial noose is tightening around the Tri-County Country Club — a nine-hole golf course just outside of Corbin — and one local bank is asking that it be sold to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans that have fallen into delinquency.

Forcht Bank filed a foreclosure action in Knox Circuit Court Nov. 4 against the club, numerous members, investors and a property management company. According to the lawsuit, the club has failed to make timely payments on a $342,343.65 loan it signed with the bank on July 2, 2008. As of Oct. 28, $283.591.82 is owed on the loan at a rate of 5.5 percent per year.

Another $25,000 was approved in October of 2011, and the amount owed on it has ballooned to $27,657.11, signaling that payments, if any were made at all, have not kept pace with the 6.4 percent annual interest.

After being run by a non-profit organization since 1967, Tri-County Country Club was turned over to a private individual, Joe Carroll, in January. The change was approved at a meeting of the club’s Board of Directors last December.

Carroll owns and operates the Middlesboro Country Club — a similar nine-hole course.

The exact nature of the new management arrangement was never made clear. According to records obtained from the Knox County Clerk’s office, the club signed a mortgage with Carroll Land Management LLC on Jan. 16, 2013 for $150,000. The club also borrowed money through similar arrangements in Dec. 2012 from Matt and Erin Maguet for $10,000, and again in Sept. 2010 when it borrowed $50,000 from Conner Cornett, Valerie Gilliam, Archie and Karen Marr, James and Andrea Broyles, Randy and Lori Worley and Bryan and Barbara Elliott.

The fate of the beleaguered club has been up in the air for some time.

All the individuals named in the mortgages are also defendants in the lawsuit, along with Carroll Land Management.

Last August, members of the club’s Board of Directors met with officials from the city of Corbin to convince city leaders to take over management of the facility or to engage in some partnership. Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said the club was looking for a cash infusion to help fend off concerns that it may become insolvent.

The meeting went nowhere, however, after questions were raised regarding locating individuals that still held old capital stock in the club who may require compensation, outstanding debt, and concerns over being able to obtain a clean title to the property.

According to a lease agreement, filed with the Knox County Clerks office in April 1967, Corbin Golf and Country Club, a for profit Corporation, agreed to lease the property to Tri-County Country Club, a non-profit entity, for a term of 50 years for approximately $9,000 — the amount owed on a past due, mature mortgage. Tri-County Country Club agreed to make improvements to the property including “construction of a new club-house and swimming pool” installation of new grass greens, all of which was to cost no less than $100,000.

The lease is set to expire in 2017. According to its terms, the property and all buildings would revert to Corbin Golf and Country Club at no cost.

The lease was signed by Harold Barton, M.D. and Samuel Ballou acting on behalf of both Corbin Golf and Country Club and Tri-County Country Club.

Further complicating matters is the outstanding issue of stock and “certificates of charter membership” held by many local individuals that could give them a financial stake in the club.

Corbin City Attorney Bob Hammons said part of his concern regarding the city taking over the club last year was that proper contact, or a “stock call,” was never made with all old stockholders to ensure they were compensated at the time of the changeover. Mortgages on the property made as recently as 2010 bear the name of Corbin Golf and Country Club, which Hammons said was treated as a separate and distinct legal entity from Tri-County Country Club.

Gary “Dork” White, a who has been a member of the club since 1968 said actual “memberships” had been phased out since Carroll took over in favor of pass holders. Dues were dropped to $1,200, and pass holders can play the nine-hole course for no extra charge from March 15 through December 15. All other times, fees were $10 for pass holders and $20 for everyone else.

He said the number of people paying regular dues at the club had dropped dramatically since the changes took effect.

“I’d say there are only 54 or 56 pass holders,” White said. “Really, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I hate it because it’s been so handy for me. I can be there in five minutes. It’s home for me.”

The Club has a nine-hole, 2,899-yard par 35 course, clubhouse, pro-shop, practice green and a swimming pool.

White said he doesn’t think the club’s Board of Directors even exists anymore and said the facility is running on a “skeleton” crew.

The lawsuit is asking a judge to order the club be sold at a Master Commissioner sale to pay for the outstanding debt, interest and attorney’s fees.